BREAKING. House Democrats Melt Down As Trump Invokes Executive Privilege Over All Mueller Report Documents

President Donald Trump smiles during a meeting with Chilean president Sebastian Pinera, in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Sept. 28, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump smiles during a meeting with Chilean president Sebastian Pinera, in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Sept. 28, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Advertisement

I posted yesterday on the decision by the White House to instruct former White House Counsel Don McGahn to refuse to produce documents in his possession which were included in the Mueller report (see Former White House Counsel Declines to Respond to Jerry Nadler’s Subpoena). This drama was playing out in the context of a subpoena to Attorney General Bill Barr for the entire and unredacted Mueller report and the threat of a contempt of Congress citation when Barr declined to comply (see Joe Cunningham’s BREAKING: Democrats To Hold Barr In Contempt). Just a short while ago, the White House upped the ante by invoking executive privilege over the entire Mueller report.

President Donald Trump has invoked executive privilege to block an effort by House Democrats to access special counsel Robert Mueller’s unredacted report and underlying evidence.

“Regrettably, you have made this assertion necessary by your insistence upon scheduling a premature contempt vote,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler.

Advertisement

https://twitter.com/kevincorke/status/1126130249798959110

This has the effect of making a vote of contempt of Congress nothing more than a political act as Barr no longer has the authority to comply with the subpoena. It also puts more pressure on the House Democrats to either sh** or go blind:

Advertisement

As I noted last night, the way in which the White House shared the documents with Mueller was in his role as a temp employee at Justice, so there is a very good chance this claim will prevail in the current environment. The special counsel statute makes it clear that the special counsel’s report is to the Attorney General and with that there is an implication that it doesn’t have to be shared. If the Democrats really want the entire report they have an easy way to get it: impeachment. Nixon-era court decisions basically invalidated executive privilege for an impeachment proceeding, but no one thinks the Democrats really want to go there.

Recommended

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on RedState Videos